This disc brings together two of the most celebrated Italian composers of
the 17th century. Luigi Rossi was especially famous for his operas and cantatas.
He worked in Rome and Naples, and also stayed in Paris on several occasions.
His music was well-known in France, and that had everything to do with the
fact that he was in the service of Cardinal Antonio Barberini, who was a francophile
and had good contacts in France. Here Rossi found the protection of Cardinal
Mazarin, himself of Italian birth. Although the performance of his opera Orfeo
in Paris in 1647 wasn't an unqualified success, it made a great impression
on French composers of the time. Lully - also of Italian origin - also felt
its influence.

Rossi's oeuvre comprises very few sacred works. Un peccator pentito
is preserved anonymously. It has been recorded before - by Les Arts Florissants
- under the name of Luigi Rossi. There are several reasons for that. "The
immediate attribution of the score to Luigi Rossi was based on its style,
but also on the fact that it appears in the Barberini Collection with other
works signed by the composer". So writes Luis Antonio González in the
programme-notes. It is described in the sources as an oratorio volgare
(an oratorio in the vernacular) but also as a cantata morale. It is
scored for five voices, two violins and bc. Three characters evocatively lament
their sins. González writes that these parts are "taken by low voices
in our version". From this I have to conclude that they were transposed; I
don't know what the original scoring was as I have no access to Les Arts Florissants'
recording. I can't see the need for a transposition. A fourth character, scored
for a soprano, appears and declares God's willingness to forgive, referring
to the Cross: "This sacred, majestic Wood is no court of wrath, but a throne
of mercy". The soli are mostly in the form of recitatives followed by short
arias. There are also various trios. The piece ends with a madrigale a
5: "Soften, o cruel hearts, before this transpierced Love!".

This cantata is followed by an aria with the same subject, Pentito si rivolge
a Dio (A repentant sinner turns to God), scored for three voices and basso
continuo. The sinner asks to be tortured and scourged for his sins. Domenico
Mazzocchi was especially known for his oratorios. He was born in Civita Castellana
where he studied at the seminary. He took lower orders in 1606 and was ordained
priest in 1619. In 1614 he had settled in Rome where he obtained the right
of citizenship. Like Rossi he was under the protection of the Barberini family.

The most influential composer of oratorios was Giacomo Carissimi. In 1629
he became maestro di cappella of the Jesuit Collegio Germanico in Rome,
where students from German-speaking countries received a theological education
with everything that was connected to it. One of those things was music: Carissimi
was responsible for the musical performances at the Collegio and for the music
classes as well. But he also attracted pupils from outside the Collegio. Among
the most famous were Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Johann Caspar Kerll, Christoph
Bernhard and perhaps also Agostino Steffani.

The Historia di Jephte is one of his best-known oratorios. The subject
is a chance of a lifetime for a composer of Carissimi's dramatic talent. It
has everything: a social outlaw is asked to command his people in a battle
and leads it to victory, only to find out then that the jubilation is short-lived
as he has to sacrifice his daughter to God as a consequence of his own thoughtless
vow. Carissimi has exploited the contrasts in this story to the full. The
oratorio starts with the Historicus telling that the people of Israel
are suppressed by the Ammonites and that the Spirit of the Lord came upon
Jephtha and that he promises the Lord: "If the Lord shall deliver the children
of Ammon into my hands, I promise that whatever comes first to me from my
home shall be sacrificed to the Lord". Then follows the description of the
battle with the Ammonites, in a sequences of choruses and soli, written in
the stile concitato. What follows then is a very moving description
of the lament of the Ammonites, where Carissimi makes use of a four-note bass
figure which is often used in laments in the 17th century. When Jephtha returns
home he is greeted by his daughter, leading the jubilations of the people.
It is only short-lived, as he has to tell her about his vow to God. All of
a sudden the music shifts from major to minor. In Jephtha's daughter's lament
of her fate - "Plorate colles, dolete montes" - Carissimi uses another popular
phenomenon in Italian dramatic music of the early baroque: the echo. Then
the chorus joins her: "Plorate, filii Israel, plorate, omnes virgines". Here
Carissimi returns to the bass figure he used in the description of the lamenting
Ammonites.

Pieces like these were instrumental in the attempts of the Counter Reformation
to strengthen the faith of members of the Roman Catholic Church. Therefore
the text is of crucial importance and the delivery should be excellent. That
is the case here. At the same time the musical means which composers used
to move their audiences need to be realised to the full. Carissimi was a master
in this department, as the famous theorist Athanasius Kircher stated. "[Through]
his genius and the felicity of his compositions, [he] surpasses all others
in moving the minds of listeners to whatever affection he wishes". Jephte
is a brilliant example; Kircher had great admiration for the closing chorus:
Carissimi "composes with such skill that you would swear you could hear their
sobbings and lamentations". Los Músicos de su Alteza give a very fine
account of this oratorio, and the closing chorus comes off impressively. Soprano
Olalla Alemán also deserves praise for her performance as Jephtha's
daughter. I don't find all the voices that attractive, but the singers all
bring their texts across effectively, and fully explore the expression in
these compositions. That is all that counts.

This is a compelling disc including some masterpieces of the 17th century.